Dancing with Life and Wisdom — Thus Spoke Zarathustra

One evening Zarathustra walks through the forest with his students. He finds maidens dancing in a green meadow and tells them not to stop. He is not an enemy of dancing. He says he speaks for God against the devil called the spirit of gravity, the force that makes everything heavy and dull.

He jokes about Cupid sleeping by the well like a lazy child. Then he sings a strange song to their dance. In the song, Life and Wisdom appear as wild, changeable women. Men label them profound and faithful, but Life laughs at those names. Zarathustra admits he loves Life most when he hates her. Wisdom reminds him of Life because both pull him out of dark depths with a golden fishing line.

When the dance ends and the maidens leave, evening falls. Zarathustra grows sad and questions why he still lives. He asks his friends to forgive his gloom. An unknown presence seems to stare at him and ask why he still bothers to live. The chapter shows that wisdom and joy can live side by side, and that even a teacher who praises life can feel empty when the music stops and the meadow grows cold and damp.